Is BestBuy taking pre-orders of the Surface Pro, after you purchase a $50 gift card?

We just got word that Best Buy is offering pre-orders for the Surface Pro, the highly anticipated Windows 8 Pro tablet from Microsoft. However, in order to get your name on the list, you have to purchase a $50 gift card.

Apparently, the BestBuy in Green Bay, Wisconsin (Store #28), as well as other BestBuy stores in Pennsylvania and Washington State have the Surface Pro in the store’s system and is taking pre-orders, after you purchase a $50 gift card. You have to ask the the BestBuy employee to check the system (BEAST) for the Surface Pro, as some of them may not even know it is there. Apparently, this is in-store only and you must pick it up in-store once it is available. No word on what other BestBuy locations are offering this pre-order option, but it seems that a few BestBuy stores in Wisconsin are in fact doing this. There is also no word when the product will ship and if it will ship before the release date of Saturday, February 9th. As of right now, there is one week left until the official release from the company, where we expect the product to go on sale at Microsoft Stores as well as BestBuy and Staples.

The big question here is, do all other BestBuy stores offer the same option and when will Microsoft offer pre-orders of the Surface Pro online? We have yet to hear any official word from Microsoft. If you head over to your local BestBuy and ask for the pre-order, let us know your results in the comments below!

Update: It looks like BestBuy’s Surface Pro page is up. Still shows “coming soon” and will cost $999.99 for the 128GB model. Check it out.